Eskom is confident that it can handle the increased pressure on electricity supplies as companies begin to ramp up production in South Africa again, Mining Weekly reports.

During the economic downturn, a number of miners temporarily suspended operations at metal alloy smelters across the country as demand for commodities slumped.

However, Xstrata and Samancor, the world's two largest ferrochrome producers, have reopened facilities, while Harmony Gold increased its electricity use during Q2 2009.

Eskom, South Africa's state power utility, struggled to cope when the national grid suffered a near-collapse at the start of last year and has since been rationing energy.

However, Business Strategy and Integration General Manager Andrew Etzinger explained that he is not expecting similar problems as the economy begins to recover.

"Mines will start coming back into full production, which will place additional pressure on the national electricity grid," he told the news provider.

"Naturally, that would imply a higher vulnerability to problems and technical failures of the system, as a result of a lower reserve margin.

"Having said that, our system is still stable and we have managed to accommodate all the 'return-to-service' of our large industrial and mining customers."

Mr Etzinger added that Eskom is eager to see the implementation of the Power Conservation Programme - which outlines savings targets for various sectors - in the next 12 months.

He also dismissed fears that the national grid will be unable to cope with the added pressure that is expected to coincide with the football World Cup in South Africa next summer.

"Eskom may call on some of the mines and furnaces to power down at certain times, which is quite easy and there should not be much loss to production," he said.

Established in 1923, Eskom is the largest producer of electricity in Africa and is in the top seven utilities in the world in terms of generation capacity.

Source:

Electricity system tight but manageable, says power utility Eskom (25/09/09)

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